St James Gate (James Webb Rescue Book 1)

by BL Burke

  “You don’t have to believe me, but I swear I seen them taking people away, people who just living their lives. I was parked… see I get these headaches. They just burn and pound, I can’t see.”

  “Okay, let’s start from the beginning. Where was this abduction?”

  “I was walking my dog.”

  “You said you were parked?”

  “Was I?” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Yeah, I was parked. Anyways, as I was parked around the river, I saw a man get out of his car and walk up to a black man. Then the black guy fell into his van.”

  “His van?”

  “Yeah, old van.”

  Marshall stared directly at Dante. “Describe him.”

  “He was black… I don’t know.”

  “The assailant?”

  “No, he was white… I think or maybe Hispanic. I saw him quickly, he had dark clothes on, light skin, sunglasses. He’s a Fed, can I look through their personnel? Maybe I’d be able to spot him.”

  “We don’t have the US Government’s SS file here,” Marshall said. He stood up.

  “He must’ve called his name before he hit him with the gun,” Foley said, looking Marshall in the eyes like this was important. “It was a targeted abduction, you need to be sure your mark is the right guy… pictures don’t always do you justice. My driver’s license makes me look like I’m a crazy.”

  “I’ll bet,” Marshall muttered. “Thank you for coming in,” Marshall said as he held his arm out toward the door.

  Dante dropped his head and started to rub his hands together in front of him. “Believe me, don’t believe me, I don’t care.” He stood up quick, the backs of his knees throwing the chair into the wall, he shook his head. “I don’t know what you people do, get the government bastards who did this… they need to pay.”

  “We’ll get them, don’t worry,” Marshall said, putting his hand on Dante’s shoulder. Marshall knocked on the door, an officer opened it. “Please escort Mr. Foley out.”

  Dante stopped and shook his head, “Not Mr. Foley. No, call me Dante Foley.”

  “I know.”

  “Don’t fool me.”

  Chapter 19

  “No Admittance” the sign on the door read. Kate jiggled the handle to the fifth floor. It was locked. The elevator button was missing also.

  “Huh,” Kate said. She just wanted someplace to hide. She started back down the stairs to four, another floor with who knows how many dogs. She opened the door and walked toward the small bench she saw. Kate sat down, taking off her shoes she started rubbing her feet. Walking around the dog kennels for an hour sucked. Four floors filled with them. If it was empty, the tall ceilings and large open spaces would be nice for condos or artist studios, she thought.

  She lowered her gaze and locked eyes with the mangy fat sheep dog named Pepper. Did the dog even know where it was? Her hair was matted and looked like she rolled around in mud like a hog.

  Kate shivered at the phantom smell. Ironic that her bench was feet from her next task.

  “I’m not bathing you,” Kate said. “You’re gross.” Pepper stood up and started wagging her fluffy tail. The chart it said she got a bath and was groomed two days ago, the signature said James.

  “How?” Kate asked, not knowing what else to do. Mario asked her to bathe this big girl, claiming she was very good and loved baths. How could she love baths so much if she rolls around in dirt!

  She checked her phone, just after two. She could still be in her PJs watching something stupid, fat family or crazy housewives of anywhere.

  “Kate!” Cindy hollered, her voice high as she came pounding down the kennel row.

  Crap. “Can we go now? I fed all the dogs up here,” Kate said startled. “Now I’m supposed to bathe her but… I mean, I don’t mind feeding them…”

  “They need our help, Kate, all of them. And Pepper needs a bath.” She walked over to the pen of a small Pit Bull, the nameplate read Otis. “See this guy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Renee and James rescued him from a dog fighter.”

  “Like the one that came in today?” Cindy reached into the cloth sack that hung on every other kennel and grabbed a treat.

  “Yes… only this guy was a bait dog.”

  “A what?”

  “They used him because he was a runt… they would sic their larger dogs on him to get them riled up for the fight.”

  “Really?” Kate felt her stomach turn. Cindy broke the little bone in half and stuck part through the cage.

  “You know what happened to him since he’s been here?” She didn’t want to answer, she didn’t want to know how great they all are and how selfish she is. “He’s been stitched up and fed twice a day, he sees a vet weekly and is walked under the freeway when someone has a chance.” Cindy motioned for Kate to come over.

  Kate looked at Otis, his white fur was thin, his large pink mouth was open like he was smiling. Cindy put a part of the treat in Kate’s hand. “He doesn’t look mean.”

  “Never was, none of them are. Didn’t James tell you that?” Cindy asked, pointing at the mural on the main wall just above the door they came through. Kate saw it before, their logo? Dogs and cats, drawn together by some artist. “Yes,” she said.

  “We’re here to help them, Katherine, no matter what happened. They are still God’s creatures.”

  “Who are they?” Kate asked.

  “It’s a long story for all of them,” Cindy said. “Renee had Fox, the Pit Bull on the left growing up.” The blue pit looked stoic. “He passed when she was twenty. Her cat, Baby, the orange tabby, is still around and haunts this place like a ghost, killing mice mostly.”

  “I thought I saw him earlier,” Kate muttered.

  “Jack and Yuri are my cats… the big German Shepard in the rear is Daryl,” Kate’s eyes moved from animal to animal. Their faces where everything from mysterious to goofy. “Daryl was the first rescue we found a home for. He came from an abusive bastard who’d hit him daily.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “We found him a good home in Franklin,” Cindy said talking about the suburb of Milwaukee.

  “No, the owner?” Kate said, “Did he ever get arrested?”

  “I heard something about him getting jumped shortly after we got Daryl. Beaten pretty good. Karma, I guess.” Cindy smiled at her.

  “And the dog in the center?” Kate asked.

  “That’s Shadow.”

  “He was James’ right?”

  “Yeah, growing up James was a bit of a runt himself, don’t tell him I said that,” Cindy added quickly. “He was the little kid around the neighborhood: no friends, quiet, kept to himself a lot.” Kate didn’t know where she was going with this. James looked strong, tall, he was kind of cute, showed some visible muscles, but there was something in his eyes…. “To make up for never being around, I guess, Mom and Dad decided to pick him up a friend, another runt of the litter.”

  “He looks nice.”

  “He was,” Cindy said. Cindy shook her head as if to bring herself back to the present. “James came out of his shell for a long time. He passed when James was sixteen, and James… he regressed.”

  “How?”

  Cindy turned to Pepper’s cage, she unhooked the latch from the fence. “Let’s take her for a bath,” she said. Kate watched as Cindy put the leash on the collar and led Pepper out of the kennel.

  “Was Shadow hit by a car or something?” Kate asked following her.

  “Something,” Cindy said looping the leash over Pepper’s head. “No, give her the rest of that treat.”

  Chapter 20

  James tapped in the four-digit code, the lock clicked. With the foot rest of the wheelchair, he pushed the steel door open. The yellow glow eerily reflected off the mirror and the small puddle outside Eddie’s cell door.

  James held his breath, walking across the pit toward the recently vacated cell. He glanced up into the mirror, and saw floating red eyes, dark and evil.


  He stopped, a foot still in the air. His heartbeat quickened, like his dreams, a monster coming to get him. He couldn’t move, he just stared into the glowing orbs. The demon, it wanted to kill him, bring him to the gates of hell. An old building like this, probably haunted he was told. Where did it come from? The place was dark, cold and smelled like a sewer.

  Then everything seemed to vanish and like a spell releasing, his foot hit the floor. It barely held him, most of his weight was on the wheelchair.

  He slowly turned his head to see Eddie was staring back at him with the look of absolute hatred. Was that Eddie? James arm popped. It was just Eddie, right? He took a deep breath and kept walking. James coughed away the stench as he stepped inside.

  “I gonna get you,” Eddie said. James ignored him. He needed to be sure of himself. The practice rounds were just about complete, he could see the end and hope it was just enough to cause change. It’s going to outrage, terrify and cause panic to some.

  James checked his watch, twenty minutes the new boy should be awake, groggy but in a couple of hours he’d be ready.

  Tomas’ did only a couple of months in jail. Eddie was sentenced to one year, did less than half of that due to his performance in the impossibly stupid ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ for criminals. They did the crime, but not the proverbial time.

  He pushed Tomas’ limp body to the ground. A soft thud and groan came out as he landed face down on the concrete. James shut the metal gate, the latch clicked.

  Pushing the empty wheelchair toward the exit he looked directly into the dark cell of Eddie. His eyes seemed to be whiter than seconds before. Eddie blinked slowly. The drugs from the food may still be in effect.

  “You stink like shit,” James said. “You need a wash.”

  “Die ya cracker,” Eddie said quietly.

  “See you’re in a good mood.” James left the wheelchair and took a few steps closer to the cell. He stooped down to Eddie’s level. “Now that you remember me, anything you wish to say?”

  “We shoulda killed you, got that gat,” he pointed a finger gun at him. “Bang, bang…” Eddie erupted into a coughing fit, his body heaving forward, his hand grasped a bar.

  “Too late now,” James said. “We can’t change the past can we? But we can try for the future.”

  “I got no future.”

  “You ain’t had a future for a long time, homey,” James said. “You’re worthless.”

  “Fuck you,” he said. Eddie pulled himself up. His joints cracked in the dark and his body listed to his right.

  “Sounds like you’re taking great care of yourself.” Eddie tried to laugh, it sounded coarse and weak, more than it should have and he had to stay healthy… at least somewhat. “You got enough water?”

  “Could use some Avian.”

  “How bout Smart Water? And some food, I assume?”

  Eddie’s stomach growled. “Yeah, a steak, rare.”

  James looked at his watch, “What day is it… oh wait… probably hard to tell days in here, you haven’t eaten for a while.”

  “Had some food this morning… cold soup and a burger.”

  “You’re hallucinating, too?”

  “I know what I had.”

  “It’s probably your stomach digesting itself,” James said. Eddie’s body needed to be strong, his mind not. Breaking them down mentally was just as good… just as pleasing. “You’re dying.”

  “We all are.”

  “Very philosophical,” James said. A dumb look came over Eddie’s face. “It means…”

  “I know what it means,” Eddie said angrily gripping the bars and sticking his head between them, “I ain’t stupid!” It seemed the monster had feelings. With his head in the light James could see the black cuts, scraggly hair and a broken tooth. He was a killer.

  “The new boy I just brought in, you kill him and you’ll get some food.” James nodded his head toward the other cell.

  “Do I know that cracker?” Eddie asked.

  “No, just scum like you.”

  “A nice white boy. Thought you just collected the minorities.”

  “I’m for equal opportunity.” James shrugged his shoulder. “Besides, he had sex with farm animals.”

  “Fo real? That nasty.”

  “For once we agree. So, you kill him and I’ll get you whatever you want to eat… call it a last meal.”

  “Steak…porterhouse,” he sounded out. “And some crab legs.”

  “That’s it?” James said, raising an eyebrow.

  “What you think I want? Chicken or ribs? You racist fuck,” Eddie said.

  “I love chicken and ribs,” James said, turning his back and walking out the door.

  “What about my food?” Eddie yelled at him in the middle of a cough.

  “You’ll get it,” James said. He reached the door and began to shut it. “Just make his death look good.”

  “Fine, I ain’t dying in this place. You is, though,” Eddie yelled out. The door shut and the latch clicked into place. James turned down the dark hall with its one incandescent bulb buzzing. He stepped up to a wooden door and turned the unlocked knob. He entered the viewing room with its new equipment.

  Renee had a frown on her as he entered. “You really going to get him that shit?”

  James shrugged. “If he earns it.” Renee lifted her eyebrow through the thick rimmed glasses. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “He’ll die.”

  “I know… but what was the ‘make it look good’ thing? Since when do you care how it looks?”

  James walked to the small coat rack and grabbed his black hoodie. “I have to take off, need to see a guy about my Internet. Get rid of Cindy and Kate.”

  “I thought you didn’t have Internet?” James closed the door.

  Chapter 21

  Marshall watched as the little man left the room, a second later the Captain came in. He looked at the table then taking out a handkerchief he wiped it. He showed it to Marshall. He could almost see the little scraps of tin foil in the wild salt and pepper.

  “Nervous or scared?” the captain asked.

  “Neither. He’s a nut.”

  “Or all of the above.” The captain’s mouth drew a smile.

  “What?”

  “Don’t fool me. That’s just… beyond.”

  “Someone fooled him, enough to have him think he is gonna be grabbed in his parent’s basement,” Marshall said, closing the door.

  “He’s a history professor that lives in alone in a historic house east of the river.”

  “Where does he teach?”

  “UW Milwaukee, but currently on a leave of absence.”

  “Do we know why? He’s…” Marshall circled his finger around his ear.

  Knight looked down at the small paper in his hand. “I haven’t inquired, that’s your job. Though, the fact remains, maybe he saw something, maybe not. I have Martha typing up a transcript.”

  “It’s a waste of time.”

  “Look it over ASAP, see if anything pops.”

  “The only thing that’ll pop is my brain.”

  “Then tell Perry it was the government, which might not be far from the truth.”

  Marshall raised his eyebrow. Since when was Captain Chrissy the Sissy a conspiracy theorist? “No, not that they’re abducting people for his reasons, but could be DEA or FBI or any one of a million of those agencies… he is a drug dealer.”

  “You know anyone in that pantheon of power?”

  “I know a guy,” Knight said as he took Marshall’s old seat and leaned against the wall. He pulled out a toothpick and stuck it between his teeth. “DA know something’s up.”

  Marshall looked at the camera and cut his fingers across his neck, the red recording light shut off. “That doesn’t sound like keeping it quiet.”

  “Don’t know who talked, but I’m trying. I like Perry just as much as you, but we can’t have him investigating.” Knight fidgeted the toothpick to the other side of his mouth.

  “I know
.”

  “I’ll try to get Perry to do something benign… Did you go over the surveillance cameras yet?” Captain Knight asked.

  “Yeah, you only see Eddie’s van going toward where we found it.”

  “I can have Perry look for this guy’s car.”

  “Waste of time.”

  “It’ll give him something to do. You look over the transcript, I can make a call, but…” he started to tap a finger on his chin. “Now that I think about it, they wouldn’t arrest him and leave his dog and van… This isn’t Iraq, right?”

  “What else would they do with the dog?” Marshall said. The captain shrugged. He never even made detective, was he taking over?

  “We need to stop Perry, before he does something stupid.”

  “No way. He knows what’s right and wrong.” Marshall looked at him. “You should know better than most,” Marshall said. The captain frowned and looked up at the camera.

  “He told you…” the captain said. Marshall nodded.

  “Something about an underage boy.”

  “It was a set up.”

  “It’s a terrible rumor.”

  “One you won’t repeat?”

  “Of course not, if it is true… Perry helped you this long, I’d say it’s time to settle the score.” He swallowed his words.

  Knight stood quickly and came nose to nose with Marshall.

  “You’re not trying to blackmail me, are you?” Knight growled, he stood only a few inches shorter than Marshall. His forehead took up a third of his face. Marshall felt his eyes strain down.

  “No… of course not.”

  “Don’t. Perry’s a good man, just grew up in the wrong family.” He reached for the door. “We need to keep him busy. Don’t tell him anything or lie to him, that’s an order.”

  Well what the hell do I say? Marshall thought as Knight left.

  -----

  Marshall rubbed his temples as he walked to the coffee maker. Lying to his partner or anyone else came easy. His longest lie was more an omission of the truth was found out by Perry more recently. Luckily, he didn’t talk.

  He grabbed a Styrofoam cup and walked to his desk. His chair groaned as he sat down. He typed Dante Foley in the database. No citations, no police contact until six months ago. November 23rd, right before Thanksgiving. Someone broke into his off-campus home, they attacked and robbed him. Marshall pulled up some pictures. The house was torn up: books were on the ground, cords running toward where electronics would’ve been seemed lost. Chairs and the sofa was almost destroyed.